A Joyful Easter
by Glistening Sun
Summary: A series of vignettes looking at Sharon's Easter Sundays over the past decades.
1. Jack

Whatever people were saying about Jack, he could still surprise her. He had shown up on Easter Sunday morning, waiting for them in front of the church. He had cleaned up nicely, wearing his blue suit and a tie she had given him for his birthday that year.

"Daddy!"

"Daddy's here!"

The voices of two happy children who had let go of her hands and thrown themselves at their father who tried to pick them up both at once. Sharon still remembered the joyful laughter and how her heart had made a little jump. This was how she had always imagined her life with Jack. Going to church with their children, eating a family roast around the dining table, watching as their children were roaming the garden in search for their Easter nests.

They had sat together in church, Emily and Ricky between them and during the prayers they had snuck the occasional glance at each other. Sharon remembered the rather impure thoughts she had had when her husband looked at her like that. She remembered the clarity of Jack's eyes and the smell of his aftershave that had assaulted her as she pressed a kiss on his cheek in greeting. Aftershave. Nothing else. No alcohol. Easter Sunday, lighting their candles on the large Easter candle in the front of the church, whispering 'He is risen' and 'He is risen indeed' and the newly ignited hope in her heart that Jack had also risen from his own hell of addiction.

He had kissed her once they were outside, softly and tentatively and she had looked for the distinctive taste and had found none. Jack had surprised her that day, having even remembered to bring some chocolate eggs to hide.

Only when the children came back with their bounty had Sharon noticed that they were filled with liquor. Liquor! For her precious children. Children. Eight year old Emily and five year old Ricky.

She had been furious, but had told the children that surely these eggs must have been meant for their parents, secretly grateful she had gotten more appropriate sugary treats for them. That night, Emily and Ricky fast asleep after Jack had read them a story, she had confronted him on his irresponsibility. He had given her one look, grabbed one of the eggs, eggnog, she would never forget, and eaten it in front of her. To this day it seemed like she had actually heard her heart break.

The next time she had heard from him had been Christmas, a drunken phonecall in the middle of the night demanding to speak to his children. But they were _her _children now and he no longer had any place in their lives. He no longer had the power to make her cry.


	2. Emily

The letter from ABT had come earlier in the week and Sharon watched from the kitchen as a fourteen year old Emily picked it up off the dining table and impatiently ripped it open without giving it second thought. After all, this was a letter that could decide on her future.

And decide it did.

"Yes! I got in! I got in! I got in!" Emily's clear voice rang out as she started twirling around the living room.

"I'm going to New York. Oh Mom! I'm going to New York. I'm gonna be at ABT!"

Nothing but sheer excitement and pure joy in her daughter's features and Sharon had bitten her lip and put on a brave face. Oh, she was so proud of her daughter daring to reach for the stars and following her dreams. Her mother's heart only wished Emily would have been able to follow her dreams in Los Angeles. Her mother's heart only wished Emily hadn't still been quite so young.

Sharon had sat through mass with her hand wrapped around Emily's trying to hold on to her daughter and hold on the memories of her little girl suddenly so grown up.

Her last Easter with her little girl, she had thought, as Emily found her 'egg'. A pair of new ballet shoes to take with her. Sharon tried to memorise every little detail about her daughter, the laughter, the excitement, the sound of her voice, the exuberance and the smell of her soft hair as she pressed a kiss to her head. Next year it would be just Ricky and her and Emily would be away in New York, all grown up despite her young age, following her dream, becoming a ballerina.

Sharon had smiled through it all and celebrated with Emily, but it seemed her act hadn't been fully convincing.

"Why are you so sad, Mommy? Did you have a bad case at work?" her little boy had asked when she settled him into bed that night and Sharon had only just managed to swallow her tears.


	3. Rusty

"I'm not a child. I don't want to go on an Easter egg hunt!" Rusty had spat at her, but she saw the hurt underneath his bravado and when he came to breakfast the next morning with a big smile she knew that he had found the little nest she had hidden for him in his wardrobe.

"Nobody is ever too old for a small token of love and appreciation," she thought, heart warmed by the simple and unadulterated joy of her … her youngest child.

The following year Rusty had asked her what she planned on doing for Easter Sunday and she had replied that she planned to go to church and then cook a nice roast for when Gavin and Andrea would be joining them for lunch.

"Will there be an egg hunt?" he had asked and she had laughed.

"I thought you were too grown-up for that?"

"It's not for me, it's for you."

When she hadn't known how to react, he had continued, "You know, Sharon, nobody is ever too grown-up for a little surprise."

It had been Gavin who found her egg and when she carefully pried open the two sides she found a framed picture of Rusty and her laughing at the beach, wind blowing the hair in their faces. She had tried to hide her tears, but a few had escaped anyway.


	4. Andy

Rusty's third Easter with Sharon was a family affair. Andy was waiting for them outside of the church and before they even had a chance to greet each other, two happy boys appeared out of nowhere and threw themselves at their grandfather.

"Grandpa Andy! Grandma Sharon! Can we hunt for Easter eggs now?"

With his arms around both boys and looking up into Sharon's smiling face, Andy chuckled.

"We can go on the hunt right after church. In fact, I'm going to need your help hiding a special egg I got for Grandma Sharon."

The boys ran off to rejoin their parents and Sharon linked her arm through Andy's.

"Honey," she chastised him gently as they were walking into the church side by side. "I told you I'm trying to watch my figure, please don't tempt me with chocolate."

"Who says it's chocolate, sweetheart?" There was a suggestiveness to his tone that kept Sharon from concentrating on the words of Father Patrick – and Andy's warm hand wrapped around hers didn't help either. She looked over at him and every single time he seemed to look right at her.

Throughout the mass, Andy knelt as she knelt and stood as she stood and when he turned towards her to give her the light of Easter, he actually winked at her and her heart missed a beat. She ignored the sound of Ricky clearing his throat, or was that Rusty?

Here she was, with this wonderful man who had risen above his addictions, who had mended the relationships with his children and who, for some miraculous reason, had decided to love her.

Back at Nicole's house, Sharon allowed herself a content sigh when she listened to Andy say prayer for all of them and took a peek through her eyelashes at the large family gathered around the table. This was what she had always wanted. It didn't matter that this wasn't the family she had planned on when she was young. This was her family now.

"Look what the boys found! Jonathan, I think that's Grandpa Andy's Easter egg for Grandma Sharon. Would you like to give it to her?"

Sharon extended her hand and the little boy put a delicately painted metal egg into her hands. It was warm and sticky from his chocolate fingers and he looked up at her expectantly.

"What do you think, Jonathan, shall I see what's inside?"

The little boy nodded eagerly, but seemed disappointed when he saw the contents.

"A ring? That's boring!"

But nobody noticed him. All eyes were on Sharon who nodded with watery eyes and a huge smile on her face.

"Sharon, will you marry me?"

This time when the tears started falling she didn't even try to stop them.


	5. Sharon

Sharon felt safe and protected and that calm quiet sort of happiness that seemed to be a constant companion these days flooded through her. It was still dark, but before she could even begin to process what that meant, she felt Andy's soft lips on her shoulder. It was always her shoulder, his breath tickling the side of her neck. She hummed in content and smiled involuntarily as Andy tightened his hold on her. Life was good. Very, very good. Even if this was very early to wake up on one of their rare days off.

"Would you like to go to the vigil with me, sweetheart?"

He remembered! Even though they hadn't talked about this in months, almost a year. Then, just before they had gotten married, she had casually mentioned just how much she loved the moment when the light passed through the church casting its glow where shadows held reign only moments previously. How this moment had always given her new hope, no matter how difficult the circumstances. How she had gone to the Easter Vigil, heavily pregnant with Emily then and Jack having disappeared, how she had asked her friend to look after her toddlers when Jack had left her with a mountain of debt that hardly allowed her to breathe. She had always found hope and the strength to go on and face a new day.

Andy's arm was warm and solid around her shoulders and he gave her a small smile leaning in to take the light from her candle. Acting on the happiness of the moment, she placed a kiss on his lips. Short and chaste, because they were in church, but telling him not only how much she loved him, but also how important it was that he had remembered this. The Easter Vigil.

Goosebumps rose on her arms as the organ, dormant for the past three days, played the Gloria, full and jubilant, filling the church and her heart with a joy so complete she felt like she was ready to float through the air with the music. She joined in the singing, her heart so light and carefree she didn't even notice the tears in the corner of her eyes until Andy kissed them away.


End file.
